What do USC fans think about this week’s match-up? We spoke to Conquest Chronicles’ Nick Dempsey to find out.
In preparation for this week’s match-up between the USC Trojans and the Arizona Wildcats, we spoke to Conquest Chronicles’ Nick Dempsey for the USC perspective on Sam Darnold, the Arizona rushing attack, and whether USC has turned a corner under Clay Helton.
1. Since replacing Max Browne, Sam Darnold has played very well, ranking eighth in the country in passer rating and leading USC to wins over Arizona State and Colorado. What are the expectations for Darnold going forward, both in this game and for the rest of the season?
Sam Darnold has played exceptionally well this season making some incredible plays. Darnold, however, is still a redshirt freshman and sometimes he plays that way. He turns the ball over far too often with fumbles and when he passes he can on occasion make dangerous passes. His skill set however does make for a much more dynamic USC offense so on the whole they are better but he is eventually going to have a game where the mistakes are too much to overcome. That almost happened against Colorado last Saturday. Darnold is still a work in progress to be sure but right now it really feels as though the sky is the limit for him.
2. Along the same lines, the Trojans struggled early this season in losses to Alabama, Stanford, and Utah. Has Clay Helton righted the ship? What has changed that allowed USC to turn the corner?
I’m not sure I’m completely ready to say Helton has righted the ship. The reason being is that we frequently see two different USC teams. The Trojans play exceptionally well at home and have not lost in Los Angeles during Helton’s time as head coach. Away from the Coliseum, however, is a much different story. USC is 2-7 under Helton away from the Coliseum and has not won a road game since November of 2015 where they struggled to pull out a win over a then very weak Colorado team. October was always supposed to be the month USC got hot as they play 4 of 5 games at home starting in October after playing 3 of 4 on the road to start the season in September. With 3 road games left this season all in conference all very important (Arizona, Washington, UCLA) it will be critical for Helton to get some wins away from the Coliseum this year. Until the Trojans perform better on the road it is hard to say they’ve truly turned a corner yet.
3. Arizona’s bread-and-butter is the running game, even with the injuries it has sustained in the backfield. Will Cameron Smith and the rest of the USC defense be able to bottle up that running attack?
USC has played and defeated passing quarterbacks who can also move the ball with their feet, but I’m not sure they’ve really played against a great running quarterback. I do know that Clay Helton every day this week has spoken frequently about the importance of stopping the run pass option and his defense has spent most of the week preparing for it. The USC defense have shown brilliant moments of great brilliance in getting pressure on the QB while also keeping contain. They have also shown moments of incredibly poor defense. For all the talk about the improvements on the offensive side of the ball the improvements for the USC defense has been overshadowed. I would expect for most of the game USC will be able to disrupt the Arizona rushing game, however I would also expect the Wildcats to be able to bust out a few huge plays on offense as well.
4. What is your prediction for this week’s game?
Plenty of folks are predicting a relatively easy win for USC, and if this game were being played in Los Angeles I would be inclined to agree with them. As I said before though USC has yet to play a really solid game for a full 60 minutes on the road under Clay Helton. I think USC can claw out a win but it will be close. I say USC wins by one score.
Thanks to Nick for taking the time to answer our questions, and for more coverage of this week’s game from the USC side of the aisle, check out Conquest Chronicles.